AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Takeley Street, and What to Do Next
One fact matters above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if the motor has been started afterwards. Wherever the vehicle stands — Smiths Green, Takeley Street — don't run a motor that hasn't been started yet. Leave your engine and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Takeley Street. Pull over the minute you safely can and turn off, if it has already run. A larger job, then, but the identical opening move.
Below: the cases we see, anywhere across Essex. Pick yours.
On a Takeley Street forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just at this point, bottle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. Anywhere around Takeley Street, then — BP, Esso, or somewhere else close by.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Still in your tank, with nothing pulled onwards: that's where the AdBlue is.
Do this: stay out of the car, even if the pump needs clearing. A few things: a push into a space with the staff helping, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from where you stand. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, and so a vehicle that can't be pushed away gets drained right at the petrol pump.
Takeley Street, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been warning you. A bottle bought at the garage, tipped in on the drive — and it's just at the recycling that the cap caught a second look. Right off Hatfield Forest Road is not less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Keep the keys in the house tonight — or a person might take it away first thing — then phone us. Brewers End or Takeley Street: whichever your drive is, that's where it is emptied. The pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Takeley Street?
Topped up, pulled away, and soon the engine was running unevenly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up the dash. It might have been heading to Chelmsford, under 15 miles away, or simply down Kingfisher Meadow.
Meaning? The fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Distance decides how far it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. Every restart, like every mile, carries it on.
Do this: pull up anywhere safe, then turn your engine off. Services farther on can wait: from the M11, under 3 miles out of Takeley Street, use the next junction. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call us and say how far you travelled.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
A week back, it was unknown to you. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is just by the diesel cap — a surprise to you. Throughout Essex, no one is safe from it.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts too — run or unrun — and one further step. Work on your vehicle often requires the owner's approval under hire or fleet agreements.
Settling it before the van arrives is faster, and so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Keep it switched off as the answer comes, whether you're waiting outside Stansted Airport or close to Holy Trinity, Takeley.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Takeley Street?
Occasionally the honest answer is "I think so". Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Sound familiar? It might have been on a friend's driveway in Tilekiln Green, or rushing by Roseacres Primary School at the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no damage to your engine. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in that tank will be sucked in by turning on the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Take it that it was put in, and never turn your engine. Ring and give the details: we'd rather find a clean tank than drain one once your motor has been run.
The common ground in every Takeley Street AdBlue drain
Every case has the same opening to the work. Filling station, drive, The Four Ashes's car park or a street beside Takeley Chapel — our van comes to the car, and three answers follow: what fluid, what amount, and if it ran. Replies set the work; the quote comes by phone while no one has left yet.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out on its own; that's why a full flush, after the drain, matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in after the fuel filter has been flushed or replaced, and your car is then checked. If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Our engineers start it last. Before we go, it's tested to be sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. If it's spotted quickly, the vehicle very seldom has permanent damage, and the whole job happens where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your policy while you wait pays.
About Takeley Street, for a moment
Takeley Street is a small village in Essex, situated near the River Lea and surrounded by countryside. Takeley Street has a relatively low elevation of around 85 metres and is located near the villages of Brewers End and Bush End. Takeley Street is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is within commuting distance of Chelmsford and London.
AdBlue drains about Takeley Street and across Essex
As a village, Takeley Street shares its vans with the surrounding places — Takeley, Bush End — right across CM postcodes. Giving us a CM22 6 postcode pins you fastest of all.
Stopped heading to Taylor's Wood, or bang in the centre of Takeley Street, your vehicle remains where it is — there's no need to move it at all. Draining happens on the spot. Guessing doesn't help near Takeley War Memorial, close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Your scenario, in one line
Not run yet: keep the car off then call. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Takeley Street and anywhere across Essex on 0333 366 0103.